Reign or Shine (7 page)

I squeezed my eyelids shut and forced myself to relax

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until the pain began to go away, until my heart stopped pounding like crazy, until my face cooled and the tightness in my body lessened. Slowly I opened my eyes again.

They were back to normal. But it didn't make me feel any better.

It's true,
I thought, a sick feeling replacing the pain in my gut.
Michael was right. He was right about everything! I'm part demon.

I'd wanted to kil Robert, not just hurt him. And it would have been so easy. Too easy. It felt natural.

That scared the hel out of me.

There was a knock at my door.

"Honey," Mom said. "Can I come in?"

"Y-yeah," I managed. I cleared my throat. "Come in."

The door creaked open. She had her arms crossed, a look of worry on her face. Had she seen my eyes? Did she know what I'd done? What I'd
almost

done?

"What on earth just happened in the kitchen with you and Robert?" she asked.

"I ... I think I hurt his arm when I grabbed him." I sucked in a breath. "I didn't mean to, but he deserved it."

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," she said. "I'm sorry you had to get involved with something so unpleasant."

The fact that she wasn't gril ing me on being a super-strong, red-eyed demon girl was evidence that she hadn't noticed anything too bizarre. I would have felt a sense of relief at that if I wasn't so stressed out.

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"Was that the first time he hit you or is this a regular thing?" My voice was strained.

She sighed. "He's never done that before. Trust me, if he had we would have been out of here. I can forgive a lot of things, but I'm not a big fan of bruises, if you know what I mean."

"Good."

I stood up and gave her a hug. She stroked the hair back from my face and smiled. "Who knew my sixteen-year-old daughter would become my bodyguard? Have you been taking self-defense lessons?"

"It's not my fault you married somebody so fragile."

She shook her head. "So much for searching for the perfect man, huh? I don't think he exists."

"I could have told you that."

Her smile widened. "So young and so cynical already. Just like your good old mom."

I was silent for a moment. "Is that why you've been married so many times? Because you're trying to find somebody perfect? Maybe that's why you write

romance novels." "Are you trying to be my shrink? Because my messed-up love life could use some analyzing."

"What about my father?" I asked. There was no time to beat around the bush. I had to learn everything I could about him as fast as possible before something even worse happened than breaking Robert's arm.

Her mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"

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"Tel me about him. You always avoid the topic, but I real y want to know. I
need
to know. Was
he the perfect man?"

She stiffened. "Your father left me."

"I know that part already. But who was he? What did he look like? Was he nice or was he a jerk like Robert? Was there anything ...
unusual about
him?"

Like, was he a demon from another dimension?
I thought. That was unusual. Very unusual.

She shook her head. "Your father was ... I
thought
he was the love of my life. But I was wrong. I was young when I met him. I didn't know any different."

That much I knew. My mother had been in her teens when she gave birth to me. She was only thirty-four years old now, which seemed old to me, but I knew

it wasn't. Some people even mistook us for sisters.

"Your father," she continued, "took a few classes with me my first year at col ege. We hit it off. Went out a few times. Obviously we got a little too close too

soon and I became pregnant with you. Then he left and I never saw him again. I'm sorry, Nikki, but the story isn't terribly romantic. You'l have to read one of

my books if you want a happy ending."

I concentrated on everything she was saying, trying to pick out something that might help me understand. So far, nothing. "But his name was definitely

Desmond."

She nodded, her face clouding over with emotion. "That's right."

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"Did you love him?"

A single tear slipped down her cheek. "I did."

My heart clenched. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know." She wiped a hand across her face and looked at me sternly. For a second she didn't look beautiful, she looked tired and sad. "It was a long time ago. I've since learned that true love only exists in fiction. The sooner you accept that, Nikki, the happier you'l be in your life. Love only brings pain

and disappointment."

"And men like Robert," I finished.

Her expression hardened. "Seems like it, doesn't it?"

"Are you going to leave him? Are you going to move us across the country again?" "You'l be the first one to know what I decide, okay? I promise."

She let out a long sigh. "Now, if you want dinner, there's some pasta and sauce in the kitchen. I think I'm going to my office to work for a while."

Before I could say another word, she stood and left my room.

She didn't know that my father was a demon. She couldn't possibly know.

Robert didn't come back. Not that I heard, anyway. I forced down some dinner even though I wasn't hungry and then I watched TV even though I couldn't

concentrate and ended up just flipping channels. My mother's bedroom light was out by ten o'clock.

I waited until ten thirty before I quietly descended the stairs and slipped out the front door. I started walking down 69

the street, not paying any attention to where I was going.

It had started to snow again and I pul ed my coat tighter around me.

I figured it would only take a minute or-- "Princess, what are you doing out? It's not safe." --even less before he showed up.

I suppressed the smile that wanted to appear and turned to look at Michael. His dark eyebrows knitted together with concern.

"I'm curious," I said. "What's with the Van Halen T-shirt, anyway?"

He looked surprised by the question and glanced down at his shirt. "When I knew I was coming to the human realm I made sure I found some suitable clothes to wear. Isn't this okay?"

"Maybe twenty years ago. But it's fine, real y." I was quiet for a moment. "Is it different here than where you're from?"

"The Shadowlands?" He glanced around the cold, dark street. "It's definitely different."

"How?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Fewer demons here."

I exhaled shakily at that. "So, are you ready to take me to see my father?" I was surprised at how confident I sounded. "Let's go now before I chicken out."

"Are you serious?"

I looked at him. "You're arguing with me?" "No ... of course not." He gave me one of his devastating smiles. "He'l be very pleased to see you."

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"Probably not after I've had my say."

Michael eyed me for a moment. "So you're not afraid?"

I contemplated how to answer that and decided on the truth. "I'm scared beyond belief. But I don't think I can avoid it anymore."

"Did something bad happen? Did your powers manifest?"

"Stil not liking those words much." I had a Technicolor flashback of what I'd forever mental y refer to as the "incident." "But, you could say that. I broke my mother's husband's arm like it was a twig."

His eyes widened at my admission. "Your strength has increased. That's to be expected, of course."

I crossed my arms tightly in front of me. "And my eyes turned red."

He put his hands on either side of my face, pushing my long hair back, and stared into my eyes. I inhaled sharply at how close we now were and it reminded me of our almost-kiss in the al eyway. "They're back to normal."

"I know that."

He didn't move away. "You're feeling better now?"

I nodded and touched his hand. "Suddenly, I'm feeling much better. Not the least bit like a demon princess."

His expression fel and he pul ed away from me and started walking, abruptly putting a gap between us. What was that al about?

"Did I say something wrong?" I asked.

"No, of course not. You just reminded me who you are."

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"Is that something you forget easily?" I had to hustle to keep up with his long strides.

"Unfortunately, it seems to be." He didn't look back at me. "I have to find a gateway to the Shadowlands. I need to concentrate."

"So you can just sense it?" I asked as I caught up to him. "Yes."

"Does it have something to do with your amulet?" "Yes," he said again.

I eyed the odd pendant lying against his closed jacket. "And you're saying that you're not a demon." "That's right." "You're human?" "Not exactly."

"Then

what are you?"

"I live in the Shadowlands and I help your father when he asks me to. Isn't that enough?" His shoulders went up and down as he sighed. "You're not giving

me much of a chance to concentrate here. Look, I'm . . . what I am doesn't real y matter."

"It matters to me."

"Why?"

I couldn't very wel just come right out and say that I was starting to like him. A lot. Even though it had to be obvious, didn't it? "Just because," I said instead. "Your amulet. . . what's it made of?"

"Magic."

"Magic," I repeated. I already knew that, but to have it confirmed was something completely different. "Okay. So 72

you're not a demon, you're not a human, you're this Shadow thing. But I don't know what that means. Hey, aren't you supposed to answer my questions?" "I'm supposed to answer your questions about where we're going, take you there, and assure you that you'l be safe. I don't need to tel you about me in particular, though."

"Even if I ask real y nicely?" I tried to smile at him.

"Please stop asking me. You'l find out soon enough.::

The shock of hearing his voice in my head again was enough to make me stop talking. For now.

His amulet flashed brightly once with green light and he brushed his fingers against it. "Here we are." He stopped next to a sewer grate. "Home sweet

home."

"The sewer?" I said, stunned as I looked down at it. "Are you kidding me?"

"Not everything is what it seems, Princess. Remember that."

"You're not going to stop cal ing me Princess, are you?"

"Probably not." With a little effort, he pried open the cover, looked down into the pitch blackness below, and then back up at my stricken expression.

His brow lowered. "You don't have to be afraid."

I wanted to tel him that I wasn't afraid, but that would have been a total lie. He must have seen the fear in my eyes because he moved closer to me and reached down to take my hand in his.

"It'l be okay," he said. "I'l be with you."

"Promise?"

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"I promise." He glanced at the opening. "Do you want me to go first?"

I looked down at the black hole, aka the dimensional gateway. "I think that would be a good idea."

He fixed me with another one of his sexy dark-eyed gazes that made my insides turn to jel y. Even though he was standing next to a stinky sewer, wearing

clothes that weren't exactly the height of current fashion, he stil looked knee-weakeningly hot to me. I had a funny feeling I could be convinced to fol ow him just about anywhere.

"Fol ow me," he said. "I'l see you on the other side."

And with that, he jumped into the sewer. One moment he was standing beside me and the next he was gone.

My eyes widened and I looked down into nothing but darkness. I waited, but I didn't hear a splash. Or a scream. There was only eerie silence.

Fol ow me, he'd said. By jumping into a sewer? I thought he was going to climb down inside, not jump into it like it was the deep end of a swimming pool.

And he wanted me to do the same thing?

Um . . . unlikely. Very unlikely.

I watched for another minute, frozen in place, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. I
don't knowif
I
can do this,
I thought. He didn't telepathical y project anything back to me. I guess he was out of range now.

I looked back in the direction of my house. It was around

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the block and I couldn't see it anymore but I knew it was there. I could go home and crawl into my warm bed and pretend this had never happened. I didn't

have to meet my father. I didn't have to do anything I didn't want to do. But I did want to.

I turned back to the sewer and, without thinking twice about it, I jumped. 75

I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself to land in a pool of unmentionable ickiness, but instead my feet touched down lightly onto something soft and springy.

I opened my eyes and looked around.

Grass. It was green grass.

I blinked and looked up to see that I was standing in a field next to a forest in the middle of the day. A moment ago it had been a cold, snowy December night, but now the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and it was very warm-- especial y since I was wearing my long pink winter coat and scarf, which I

quickly removed.

The green stone of Michael's amulet glinted under the light.

He smiled at me.

"What?" I managed.

"You're braver than I thought you'd be." "Brave?"

"For a second I thought I'd have to go back to get you. I'm impressed."

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I squinted at him while my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. "Now that I think about it, I guess jumping into a sewer is a little bizarre."

Michael looked at me a moment longer, shaking his head. "I can't remember the last time somebody from the human realm visited the Shadowlands."

There was a forest ahead of us. The field of grass was spotted with wildflowers--orange, purple, and yel ow dots of color across the vast field of green. A

butterfly fluttered past me and I felt a warm breeze against my face. It smel ed like spring.

"Wow, it's beautiful here," I said. "I'd almost forgotten what grass looks like, I've gotten so used to snow. It's like something out of a fairy tale."